Improved defensive arm or-plate



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD COX, OF COVINGTON, KENTUCKY.

IMPROVED DEFENSIVE ARMOR-PLATE.

- Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,364, dated May 27, 1862.

To all whom t may concern,.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD COX, of Covington, in the county of Kenton and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Iron Plates for War-Vessels; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is an exterior view of a portion of the side of a vessel plated according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section corref sponding with Fig. l, and Fig. 3 is a hori`v zontal section. Fig. 4 is a face view of one of the plates.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention relates both to armor-plates applied on the outside of wooden hulls and to iron plates attached' directly to the frame of the vessel, the frame being either of timber or iron.

It consists in an improved mode of iitting together and combining the marginal portions ofthe several plates, whereby they are so locked as to hold each other both in a direction lengthwise of the vessel and in a vertical direction, and to assist in holding each other f to the sides or frame of the vessel, and the necessity of using plates of very large size is obviated.

To enable others to apply my invention to use, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.-

In the example represented the plates A A are bolted directly to the framing B B, which is of wood. The plates are of quadrangular form, and each is made with a groove, a, near and parallel with each edge, such grooves forming a tongue, hb, of corresponding'width of the marginal portion of the plate outside of it, but the face of the said tongue standing back from the corresponding face of the plate a distance equal to the thickness of the plate at the bottom of the grooves, in order that when the tongue on one plate is inserted in the groove of another' one they may fit together, so as to be iush on both sides, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3,. This inode of fitting the plates together, it is obvious, will lockthem together both lengthwise of the vessel and vertically; and in order to make them allassist in holding each other to the plate each has one of its horizontal grooves and one of its vertical ones in the outer side'fand the othertwo grooves on the inner side, as is illustrated in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, the inner side being represented by dotted lines in Fig. 4.

To enable the plates to be arranged in tiers one above another, and to enable the plates of each tier to break joints with those of the tiers immediately above and below, and yet to make all the plates combine to form a continuous solid plating, each horizontal groove is continued the whole length of the plate, but the vertical groove on the same side is made to terminate in the horizontal groove, as shown at c in Figs. l and 4, and the two corners of the plate where the vertical groove of one side and the horizontal groove ofthe other side come together are cut away in angular form from the inner sides of the two grooves, as shown at d d in the last-mentioned figures.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Having the plates constructed with grooves and tongues a b, tting together in the peculiar manner herein shown and described, so that the plates will be locked together both horizontally and vertically, all as set forth.l

EDWARD COX.

Witnesses:

R. A. ATHEY, FRED. WISE. 

